Charleston’s IAAM Acquires 1850 Daguerreotypes Believed to Be the Earliest Photographs of Enslaved Americans
A set of 15 daguerreotypes dated to 1850 — images scholars believe may be the earliest known photographs of enslaved Americans — has been officially acquired by the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston, South Carolina.
The museum is now referring to the group as “The 1850 Daguerreotypes.” Made in South Carolina by photographer J. T. Zealy, the pictures were produced more than 175 years ago, just over a decade after the daguerreotype process was introduced. The series depicts seven enslaved people identified as Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jem, and Renty.
The portraits are starkly consistent in format: each sitter appears from the waist up, shirtless, and photographed in both frontal and profile views. The article also records family relationships among those pictured. Renty and Delia are described as father and daughter, and Jack and Drana are likewise described as father and daughter.
IAAM said it plans to present reproductions of the daguerreotypes in October. According to the museum, the display will be shaped by a trauma-informed approach, emphasizing people-first language and focusing on the humanity of the individuals depicted rather than the pseudoscientific project that originally produced the images.
In a statement, Malika N. Pryor, IAAM’s chief learning and engagement officer, framed the forthcoming exhibition as an act of care and recognition. “It is our greatest honor to feature Alfred, Delia, Drana, Fassena, Jack, Jim, and Renty in a new exhibit that will tell their stories,” Pryor said, adding, “It is more than a homecoming; it is a homegoing, where our ancestors finally get to be properly laid to rest and cared for as they always should have and deserved to be.”
The acquisition places a fraught and foundational set of photographic objects within an institution dedicated to African American history and culture, as IAAM prepares to interpret the images for the public with an explicit emphasis on ethics, language, and the lived realities of the people whose bodies were made to serve an earlier era’s claims to “science.”
